This invention relates to transportable conveyor systems and particularly to telescopic or non-telescopic transportable conveyor systems.
Today, conveyor systems are of two main types, those which are telescopic or non-telescopic conveyor systems which are commonly used to transport materials from one location to another. The basic difference between telescopic and non-telescopic conveyor systems relates to the function of the conveyor system to transport aggregates over different distances—telescopic conveyor systems are frequently capable of transporting material two or three times the more limited fixed or non-telescopic conveyor systems. There are several known examples of conveyor systems, particularly extendable or telescopic systems, as disclosed, for example, in Canadian patent 2,223,202, Thor Global Enterprises Ltd., issued Jun. 22, 2004, as well as e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 3,378,125 issued Apr. 16, 1968 to Fogg, U.S. Pat. No. 3,825,107 issued Jul. 23, 1974 to Cary et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,809 issued Oct. 4, 1994 to Gilmore et al.
Both telescopic and non-telescopic conveyor systems find application in different industries such as the aggregate industry where mobile conveyors are used to form stockpiles of aggregate materials. Depending on the type of industry, the telescopic conveyors will vary in size—for example, those used in the aggregate industry have generally large belts to permit movement of large volumes of aggregates.
Today, the length of the conveyor system is such that they can range from e.g. 40 feet to 80 feet or more for a single non-telescopic conveyor system; for telescopic versions, such conveyor systems are manufactured to have an extended length of e.g. 100 feet to 150 feet or more.
As disclosed in Canadian '202, telescopic conveyor systems utilize technology where one length of the conveyor system is positioned within a second length for transport purposes; when a first length is extended from the second length of conveyor system, the whole system is braced by suitable braces connected to a transport frame. For transport, conveyor systems are generally provided with transport wheels and towed or pulled by a truck or similar vehicle from e.g. a site of manufacture to an area of usage.
Both non-telescopic and telescopic conveyor systems conventionally include a feed section operatively associated with the conveyor in order to provide feed material to be placed on the conveyor and permit its transportation to a different point using the conveyor system. Conventional technology for feed systems utilize a system fixedly secured to the telescopic conveyor system; typically this is by mounting or attaching the frame of the feed system to the lower end of the outer telescopic conveyor component. Mounting of the feed unit would be by welding, bolting or other suitable conventional means.
When the frame of the feed system is fixedly secured to the lower end of the conveyor system, obviously the feed system will move in unison with the movement of the conveyor system. This results in different loading positions for feeding the feed system; typically, this can vary from several inches to several feet or more depending on the mounting of the conveyor system to the feed system.
It would be desirable to provide a fixed constant reference point for location of the feed system relative to the telescopic conveyor system since otherwise, adjustments have to be made to accommodate different sources of feed to the feed system. Cessation of the operation of the complete unit to effect adjustments to the height of the feed unit is time consuming and results in lower production capacity for the conveyor system.
In another embodiment of the present invention and with respect to the known prior art, the conveyor system, whether it be telescopic or non-telescopic, is adapted to distribute (as an example) aggregate material to form stock piles, by virtue of the conveyor system moving back and forth laterally so that the aggregate is discharged in semi-circular piles of the aggregate. When aggregate piles have reached a sufficient height, the conveyor system, which is mounted on wheels, is moved from one site to another or displaced from its original position and moved either sideways or backwards to permit new aggregate piles to be formed. One of the problems that both the telescopic and non-telescopic conveyor systems run into is that the feed end of the conveyor system, when e.g. aggregate is loaded to feed the conveyor, aggregate will sometimes spill over the sides of the feed section onto the ground or substrate where the conveyor system is working. Upon lateral movement of the conveyor and the feed section for distribution of the aggregate to form piles, the excess aggregate which has fallen over the feed section on one or both sides of the feed section, can slow down or block the lateral or swinging movement of the conveyor system until it is cleared away, either manually or by some suitable equipment.
It would be desirable to provide the feed section of a conveyor system with a structure whereby the loose aggregate at the sides of the conveyor system could be displaced from the path of travel of the feed section in a manner such that downtime for the equipment is not encountered or where additional equipment has to be brought in to clean up the site prior to continued usage of the conveyor system.